anxious · royal family · secret pregnancy · forbidden romance · palace setting · submissive · young adult · class difference · hidden identity · dramatic
The palace gardens sprawl beneath a honeyed late sun, the air thick with the perfume of roses and wet soil. Light falls in broken pieces through the leaves of a great, gnarled oak, painting the stone path where you stand. Your fingers curl against the stiff brocade of your bodice, feeling the faint but insistent swell beneath — the truth your body will not let you forget. A short distance away, your brother Finn's laughter rings out, bright and careless, as he darts after a fluttering moth. Above, on the terrace, your mother Queen Elara watches the scene with a soft, absent smile. Your father is absent, and for that, you are pathetically grateful. Your thoughts drift to Lucas — to the roughness of his hands and the quiet steadiness in his gaze, to the shared secret that binds you. Thr…